AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded, reaching to take the star from him, and taking his outstretched hand as she struggled to climb onto the bench with her lace skirt.
She frowned at Rufus, down on one knee with the phone. ‘Am I close?’ she asked, holding the star in what she thought was about the right place. Rufus dipped lower, until the phone was resting on the floor.
‘I just can’t get it. Can you jump?’
‘Jump? In this?’
‘I can’t get the angle right. If you can’t jump, I could lift you?’
‘Someone needs to take the picture.’
‘We can prop it up on something. Use the timer.’
‘You’ve completely lost the plot.’
‘Possibly. Do you trust me enough to give it a shot?’
She rolled her eyes. This was going to end in tears. She was sure of it. But she threw her hands up. ‘Okay, if you think it will work. My life in your hands and all that.’
He set the timer on the phone and ran the three paces over to the bench. His hands were on her waist before the red light started flashing and she barely had a chance to catch her breath before he had lifted her straight in the air. She reached out to clutch his shoulders, squealing with the surprise of it, and as the flash popped she realised she hadn’t even tried to get the star in the right place.
Rufus showed her the result on the phone and she couldn’t help but laugh—her arms were flailing, her eyes were wide and her mouth wide open in a shocked grimace.
‘I think we may need another attempt,’ she said, looking up and meeting Rufus’s eyes.
The second and third attempts weren’t much better, and on the fourth Rufus’s arms began to shake as he held her as high as he could. She managed to remember to reach the star into the spot that made the angles work, and the results were definitely improving.
‘One more?’ Rufus asked, scrolling through the results.
She nodded. ‘One more. Might as well turn on burst mode so that we’ve got the best chance.’
Rufus fiddled with the settings and propped the phone back on the floor. She waited on the stool while Rufus ran over to her, climbing up beside her and then hoisting her in the air with a very unflattering grunt. She reached the star as best she could, and tried to remember to do something balletic with her legs so she didn’t look as if she was launching herself at Rufus in a rage. The burst of shutter sounds stopped, and she dropped her hands to Rufus’s shoulders to steady herself as he lowered her.
She was pressed flush against Rufus as he let her down beside him, his hands burning through the lace at the waist of her dress. ‘Do you think we got it?’ she asked, her hands still resting on his shoulders.
He blinked, and she wondered whether he had heard her. The way he was staring at her right now, he definitely looked as if he had other things on his mind. Her gaze dropped to his mouth just as his tongue darted out and flicked over his lower lip. She pulled herself away, remembering the talk she’d given them both yesterday. The one where she’d reminded herself of why she didn’t want to do this. Rufus’s arms tightened around her waist for just a fraction of a second before he let her go.
They filled another couple of hours with laughter and slightly dubious photography—Rufus found her sheepskin boots and a huge checked blanket, and dared her to take some pictures outside. She posed in the wedding dress with their snowmen, threw snowballs at the camera, and felt her cheeks and her nose redden with the cold, until she had to admit defeat and retreat to the fire.
* * *
‘This afternoon I was thinking fire, blanket, book,’ she said carefully. ‘Want to join me?’
Under a blanket? Any day. Except he couldn’t say that out loud. He shouldn’t even be saying it in his head. He needed to be more careful than that. Couldn’t slip into the flirting that seemed to come so easily to them when they weren’t fighting it hard enough.
‘I agree that sounds like the best kind of Christmas Eve plan. But there are some things I need to do first. How about we watch a movie in a bit?’
‘Sure.’ Jess shrugged. ‘But what’s so pressing on Christmas Eve? It’s not like we can even leave the house.’
‘I know. But the weather forecast is predicting more snow tonight. A lot of snow. I just want to make sure we’re prepared.’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘If you say so. Though I doubt much has changed since the last time you checked.’
That wasn’t the point. At this moment, they were both dependent on him to ensure that they were safe and secure, and he couldn’t just sit back and hope that nothing would go wrong.
‘There are just a few more things I need to deal with. I’ll be back soon. Promise.’
* * *
